News Article

6/28/2011 - Nearby Nuclear Plants

There have been a lot of articles in the press lately about the risk associated with living near nuclear plants.

Under rules in force for more than 30 years, U.S. communities must by law prepare federally reviewed evacuation plans for those living within 10 miles of a plant. In a severe accident, most of the early deaths — those from radiation sickness, not cancer — are predicted to occur within a 10-mile radius.

Those living within 50 miles, meanwhile, are covered by an "emergency ingestion zone," where states are required to make plans to ban contaminated food and water — but not evacuate.

That said, in the nuclear disaster in Japan, the U.S. Government's advise to it's citizens was that, if you are within 50 miles you should evacuate.

So how far away are we from our nearest nuclear plants?

There are three nuclear plants located in Florida. They plants are the Crystal River Plant in Citrus County, the St. Lucie Plant in St. Lucie County, and the Turkey Point Plant in Miami Dade County. Their distances from us in miles are listed below.

The map below shows the 10 mile and 50 mile radii around the the two nuclear plants nearest to us.

So, if you want to live on the South East coast of Florida, we are in about as good a location as one can be as we are midway between the St. Lucie Plant to the North and the Turkey Point Plant to the South.